13 Best Energy Ideas

Energy policies and technologies that can get us on the path toward a sustainable future (plus a few that won’t).

posted Feb 03, 2008

Click on each Policy or Technology to learn more about our energy options.[PDF poster version below.]

YES! MAGAZINE GRAPHIC, 2008.

Investments in energy projects will total $16 trillion in the next two decades. That investment—along with spending for long-lived buildings, transportation, manufacturing, and public works—could lock us into climate chaos. Or it could set us on the path toward a sustainable future. How can we make sure that this new infrastructure is climate friendly? For starters, it will have to be both highly efficient and powered by renewable energy—the sun, wind, earth, or ocean. A combination of the right policies and the right technologies can get us there. Here are our picks for the best (and a few of the worst) ideas:

Put a Price on Carbon

What: Carbon pollution costs the polluter nothing; all the rest of us pay the price. Carbon taxes and “cap & trade” mechanisms make it expensive to be a carbon polluter (see Claim Your Piece of the Sky for how to do cap-and-trade right). Carbon taxes can be matched by reductions in income taxes to offset the higher prices consumers pay for energy and energy-intensive products.

Why: Making carbon emissions expensive encourages a switch to less carbon-intensive energy.

Why: Changing a 100-watt bulb to a compact fluorescent (CF) bulb cuts the equivalent of burning about 100 lbs. of coal.

Examples: Australia is banning the sale of incandescent bulbs as of 2010, and Canada, as of 2012. Brazil has replaced half its bulbs with CFs. New York is replacing traffic lights with ultra-efficient LEDs.

Net Metering, Feed-In Tariffs

What: Require utilities to buy renewable energy produced by households or independent energy producers at a price set in advance.

Why: A known market with a set price provides certainty that spurs investment. A decentralized clean energy system results, which taps the entrepreneurship of many diverse players.

Example: As a result of Germany’s Renewable Energy Act of 1999, which includes a feed-in policy, renewable energy jobs are up to 200,000, renewable energy is at 12% of total energy production, and annual installation of solar PV systems exceeds those in all other countries combined.

What: Shift government subsidies from climate-trashing fossil fuels to climate-friendly renewables and energy efficiency. Each year, U.S. taxpayers subsidize the oil and gas industry to the tune of $39 billion and the coal industry by $8 billion.

Why: You get what you subsidize.

Examples: Belgium, France, and Japan have phased out subsidies for coal. China, Indonesia, and Nigeria have cut subsidies.

Grow Trees

What: Preserve forests as part of ecosystems. Plant trees in cities and suburbs—especially fruit and nut trees.

Why: Investors know that nuclear power isn’t economical without subsidies to cover waste disposal and catastrophic insurance. Nuclear power is expensive, a potential target for terrorism, and a source of nuclear weapons materials.

Why: These produce energy without competing with food production. Methane capture reduces emissions of a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2.

Cautions: Genetically modified microbes designed to break down cell walls in order to convert agricultural waste into a fuel are possible sources of life-destroying super bugs. Also, in some cases, agricultural waste may be more valuable as organic fertilizer, displacing artificial nitrogen fertilizers that emit nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas.

What: It’s like the Internet, only for electricity. Smart grids can transport electricity from many, decentralized sources—including wind, solar, and other sources whose output varies over time—to where the demand is, in real time.

What: Allow new coal plants only after sequestration technology is proven and required, and only if mountain-top removal is ended. Meanwhile, clean up and increase efficiency of old coal plants—or shut them down.